Salinas pair found guilty of murders

Sentencing will be Feb. 27

3:14 AM,
Jan. 3, 2013

Albert Hernandez

Written by

Sunita Vijayan
svijayan@thecalifornian.com

Two Salinas men were found guilty Wednesday of a 2009 fatal shooting where they posed as members of an enemy gang to take out their rivals.

The verdict was returned after about two days of deliberations in the jury trial of Matthew Ruiz and Albert Hernandez, who were charged with murder and attempted murder, with firearm and gang enhancements, in the Oct. 14, 2009, shooting that killed 15-year-old Rodolfo Cristobal and 14-year-old Ociel Montiel, and wounded two other teens.

The jury found the two guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Cristobal and Montiel and attempted murder of two ...